The Guardian newspaper reports that the UK Online Safety Laws, designed to protect children online are failing. The report states that the regulations failed to limit the proportion of children suffering harm from social media, the UK’s online regulator has admitted, in an assessment branded “staggering” by campaigners.
OFCOM, the UK regulator for reported that 'at a total level there was no significant change in the proportion of children encountering harmful content over the first nine months after the children’s safety duties came into force in July 2025'.
This makes for disappointing reading but it is clear that governments can only ngo so far in a fairly unregulated world. Once one site or online service is dealt with others pop up to replace them.
It is true that government action in a number of countries have applied pressure to some major players to take more responsibility for what appears on their platforms their actions have not been sufficient to solve the problems that exist for children online.
Parents clearly still have a critical roll in keeping their families safe bu monitoring what they are doing, who they are communicating with, and building family relationships which ensure that children share their concerns and what they are doing online.
Read the full story here.